TriQuint Semiconductor was a semiconductor company that designed, manufactured, and supplied high-performance RF modules, components and foundry services. The company was founded in 1985 in
Beaverton, Oregon
Beaverton is a city in Washington County, in the U.S. state of Oregon with a small portion bordering Portland in the Tualatin Valley. The city is among the main cities that make up the Portland metropolitan area. Its population was 97,494 at the ...
before moving to neighboring
Hillsboro, Oregon
Hillsboro ( ) is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and is the county seat of Washington County. Situated in the Tualatin Valley on the west side of the Portland metropolitan area, the city hosts many high-technology companies, ...
. In February 2014,
Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte and Raleigh, the 69th-most populous city in the Un ...
-based
RF Micro Devices
RF Micro Devices (also known as RFMD or RF Micro), was an American company that designed and manufactured high-performance radio frequency systems and solutions for applications that drive wireless and broadband communications. Headquartered in Gr ...
and TriQuint announced a merger in which the new company would be
Qorvo, Inc., with the merger completed on January 1, 2015.
History
TriQuint Semiconductor began in the mid-1980s as a
subsidiary
A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...
of
Tektronix
Tektronix, Inc., historically widely known as Tek, is an American company best known for manufacturing test and measurement devices such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and video and mobile test protocol equipment.
Originally an independent ...
. In 1985 the founders held a contest to come up with a name for the company. The winning entry paid homage to the gallium arsenide on which the company was founded. *
Tri, from the Greek for “a prefix meaning three, thrice, threefold”, and
quint, from the Latin for “a set or sequence of five” literally means 3-5. 3-5 refers to the location of the elements
gallium
Gallium is a chemical element with the symbol Ga and atomic number 31. Discovered by French chemist Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran in 1875, Gallium is in group 13 of the periodic table and is similar to the other metals of the group (aluminiu ...
and
arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. Arsenic is a metalloid. It has various allotropes, but ...
on the
periodic table
The periodic table, also known as the periodic table of the (chemical) elements, is a rows and columns arrangement of the chemical elements. It is widely used in chemistry, physics, and other sciences, and is generally seen as an icon of ch ...
. The elements on the third and fifth columns of the periodic table, including nitrogen found in
GaN
The word Gan or the initials GAN may refer to:
Places
*Gan, a component of Hebrew placenames literally meaning "garden"
China
* Gan River (Jiangxi)
* Gan River (Inner Mongolia),
* Gan County, in Jiangxi province
* Gansu, abbreviated ''Gā ...
, are known to have special conductive properties, great for producing compound semiconductors. Alan Patz was the first
chief executive officer
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
(CEO) of the company, serving from 1985 until 1991.
In 1988, the core group working in the spin-off had to decide if they wanted to continue to work under Tektronix as the
GaAs
Gallium arsenide (GaAs) is a III-V direct band gap semiconductor with a zinc blende crystal structure.
Gallium arsenide is used in the manufacture of devices such as microwave frequency integrated circuits, monolithic microwave integrated circui ...
SBU or if they wanted to venture out on their own. This core group met in a hotel room at the Greenwood Inn in Beaverton, Oregon, and decided that they were going to use their experience to start the company that would eventually become TriQuint.
In 1991, Gazelle Microcircuits, Gigabit Logic, and TriQuint all merged under the TriQuint name. The focus of the merged company was to produce components for mobile phones and other communication devices. On May 15, 2001, TriQuint and Sawtek Inc. announced that the two companies would merge. Sawtek made products based on
surface acoustic wave
A surface acoustic wave (SAW) is an acoustic wave traveling along the surface of a material exhibiting elasticity, with an amplitude that typically decays exponentially with depth into the material, such that they are confined to a depth of abou ...
, and with the merger, TriQuint was able to incorporate their technology into its products. Patz left the CEO position in 1991 and Bert Moyer took over in May as the interim CEO, serving until September when Steve Sharp became the permanent leader of the company.
In 2002, TriQuint acquired
Infineon's GaAs
Gallium arsenide (GaAs) is a III-V direct band gap semiconductor with a zinc blende crystal structure.
Gallium arsenide is used in the manufacture of devices such as microwave frequency integrated circuits, monolithic microwave integrated circui ...
semiconductor business as a part of a partnership between the two companies to create products together, followed in late 2002, with the acquisition of a large portion of Agere Systems' optoelectronics business. Also in 2002, Steve Sharp stepped down as CEO and Ralph Quinsey took over the position. TriQuint later sold the TriQuint Optoelectronics Business Unit created from this acquisition to
CyOptics in 2005.
In early 2005, TriQuint acquired TFR Technologies, located in
Bend, Oregon
Bend is a city in and the county seat of Deschutes County, Oregon, United States. It is the principal city of the Bend Metropolitan Statistical Area. Bend is Central Oregon's largest city, with a population of 99,178 at the time of the 2020 U.S ...
. TriQuint acquired the company to incorporate their work on bulk acoustic wave (BAW) products into their own work. On September 4, 2007, TriQuint completed the purchase of Peak Devices Inc. in order to incorporate their work on wide band
bandwidth
Bandwidth commonly refers to:
* Bandwidth (signal processing) or ''analog bandwidth'', ''frequency bandwidth'', or ''radio bandwidth'', a measure of the width of a frequency range
* Bandwidth (computing), the rate of data transfer, bit rate or thr ...
into its products. This was followed by the acquisition of WJ Communications, Inc. completed on May 23, 2008, in order to acquire their RF products.
The company settled an investor lawsuit in 2009 over allegations of improper
backdating of stock options.
TriQuint agreed to pay nearly $3 million in plaintiff's
attorneys fees
Attorney's fee is a chiefly United States term for compensation for legal services performed by an attorney ( lawyer or law firm) for a client, in or out of court. It may be an hourly, flat-rate or contingent fee. Recent studies suggest that when ...
to settle the case, but maintained the company did nothing wrong.
Also that year, the company began a patent dispute with rival Avago Technologies over acoustic wave filters, which was eventually settled in 2012 with the companies agreeing to cross-license patents between the companies.
Overall, TriQuint spent around $20 million in the case.
For fiscal year 2010, the company's revenues had grown to $878.7 million, with about 25 percent of revenues coming from
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company b ...
's contract manufacturer
Foxconn
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., trading as Hon Hai Technology Group in China and Taiwan and Foxconn internationally, is a Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturer established in 1974 with headquarters in Tucheng, New T ...
. After several quarters of losses, the company posted a profit for its third quarter in 2013. TriQuint announced in February 2014 that it would merge with
RF Micro Devices
RF Micro Devices (also known as RFMD or RF Micro), was an American company that designed and manufactured high-performance radio frequency systems and solutions for applications that drive wireless and broadband communications. Headquartered in Gr ...
. The merger was completed on January 1, 2015, with the new company called Qorvo.
[ TriQuint had traded on the NASDAQ as TQNT prior to the merger.
]
Products
TriQuint Semiconductor created standard and custom products using gallium arsenide
Gallium arsenide (GaAs) is a III-V direct band gap semiconductor with a Zincblende (crystal structure), zinc blende crystal structure.
Gallium arsenide is used in the manufacture of devices such as microwave frequency integrated circuits, monoli ...
, surface acoustic wave
A surface acoustic wave (SAW) is an acoustic wave traveling along the surface of a material exhibiting elasticity, with an amplitude that typically decays exponentially with depth into the material, such that they are confined to a depth of abou ...
(SAW) and bulk acoustic wave (BAW) technologies. These processes were built to be used in many different devices. In wireless
Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided medium for the transfer. The most ...
handsets, TriQuint created many components, including power amplifiers
An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). It may increase the power significantly, or its main effect may be to boost the v ...
(PA), power amplifier
An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). It may increase the power significantly, or its main effect may be to boost the v ...
modules
Broadly speaking, modularity is the degree to which a system's components may be separated and recombined, often with the benefit of flexibility and variety in use. The concept of modularity is used primarily to reduce complexity by breaking a sy ...
(PAM), pHEMT switches, SAW
A saw is a tool consisting of a tough blade, wire, or chain with a hard toothed edge. It is used to cut through material, very often wood, though sometimes metal or stone. The cut is made by placing the toothed edge against the material and mo ...
and BAW filters
Filter, filtering or filters may refer to:
Science and technology
Computing
* Filter (higher-order function), in functional programming
* Filter (software), a computer program to process a data stream
* Filter (video), a software component tha ...
, filter
Filter, filtering or filters may refer to:
Science and technology
Computing
* Filter (higher-order function), in functional programming
* Filter (software), a computer program to process a data stream
* Filter (video), a software component tha ...
modules, antenna switch modules (ASMs) and front-end modules (FEMs). Their chips were used in the manufacture of Apple's iPhone and iPad
The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating s ...
, Palm's Pre, HTC's Android G1, and Amazon's Kindle reader, among other consumer products.
TriQuint's GaAs
Gallium arsenide (GaAs) is a III-V direct band gap semiconductor with a zinc blende crystal structure.
Gallium arsenide is used in the manufacture of devices such as microwave frequency integrated circuits, monolithic microwave integrated circui ...
and SAW
A saw is a tool consisting of a tough blade, wire, or chain with a hard toothed edge. It is used to cut through material, very often wood, though sometimes metal or stone. The cut is made by placing the toothed edge against the material and mo ...
technology was used inside many base stations
Base station (or base radio station) is – according to the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) Radio Regulations (RR) – a "land station in the land mobile service."
The term is used in the context of mobile telephony, wireless com ...
. For broadband
In telecommunications, broadband is wide bandwidth data transmission which transports multiple signals at a wide range of frequencies and Internet traffic types, that enables messages to be sent simultaneously, used in fast internet connections. ...
communications devices, TriQuint created and produced optical modulator drivers, transimpedance amplifiers (TIA), attenuators, Bessel filter
In electronics and signal processing, a Bessel filter is a type of analog linear filter with a maximally flat Group delay and phase delay, group/phase delay (maximally linear phase response), which preserves the wave shape of filtered signals in ...
s, and low-noise amplifier
A low-noise amplifier (LNA) is an electronic amplifier that amplifies a very low-power signal without significantly degrading its signal-to-noise ratio. An amplifier will increase the power of both the signal and the noise present at its input, ...
s (LNA). TriQuint's products were also used by the military.
TriQuint also offered foundry
A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...
services, allowing TriQuint to manufacture its own products. Additionally, the company allowed fabless semiconductor companies
Fabless manufacturing is the design and sale of hardware devices and semiconductor chips while outsourcing their fabrication (or ''fab'') to a specialized manufacturer called a semiconductor foundry. These foundries are typically, but not exclu ...
to use its facilities for manufacturing.
See also
*List of companies based in Oregon
This is a list of companies based in Oregon. Oregon is the ninth largest by area and the 27th most populous of the 50 United States. The gross domestic product (GDP) of Oregon in 2010 was $168.6 billion; it is the United States's 26th wealthies ...
*Silicon Forest
Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic luster, and is a tetravalent metalloid and semiconductor. It is a member of group 14 in the periodic tab ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Triquint Semiconductor
Defunct semiconductor companies of the United States
Foundry semiconductor companies
Companies based in Hillsboro, Oregon
Computer companies established in 1985
Electronics companies established in 1985
Computer companies disestablished in 2014
1985 establishments in Oregon
2014 disestablishments in Oregon
Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq
Defunct manufacturing companies based in Oregon
2015 mergers and acquisitions